A super allrounder, John Reid was born a generation too soon, for he retired in 1965 before one-day international matches were started. Reid would have been a one-day team on his own - a batsman with thunderous strokes, a rapacious fielder especially at gully or cover, a bowler of what became known as right-arm bursters which ranged from modest off-cutters to snarling bouncers. Reid also fitted in some stand-in wicketkeeping. But for a bout of rheumatic fever in his late-teens Reid might have become the ultimate New Zealand allrounder, for his rugby prowess overshadowed his cricket - but after recovery rugby was off limits. Reid's Test-match scores fluctuated in his first decade, but he touched glory on tour in South Africa in the 1961-62 season, setting a record of 1915 runs, seven centuries (leaving Denis Compton, Neil Harvey, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton and Arthur Morris in his wake). Reid later became a New Zealand selector, took his coaching and management talents to South Africa for a time, but returned to New Zealand to join the front rank of the International Cricket Council referees.
Don Cameron